 Good afternoon, the first item of business people's afternoon is a statement by Paul Chillhouse, on new psychoactive substances in Scotland. The minister will take questions at the end of his statements so there should be no interventions or insert options between Paul Chillhouse 10 minutes minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to make a statement today on the matter of new psychoactive substances. Substances whose sale is not restricted but mym excuses, if that noticed the effects of controlled drugs, and can be harmful or may be a fatal consequence. On my contact screen for the chamber today with the latest developments and what the Scottish Government is doing in response, the challenges that are hello to me today are not only from a panel of素 affection để in relation to our educational efforts. The challenges were well rehearsed in the chamber. I was struck by it and am grateful for the consensual nature of the debate on that issue. fortress, a the goodwill and well-informed contributions from members across the chamber. Members will no doubt agree with me that the biggest difficulty and perhaps frustration is that the existing legislative framework enables those substances to remain legal where they are not knowingly sold for human consumption and thereby not come under the traditional radar of the Misuse of Drugs Act on which we have relied to control drugs. To this end, I am pleased to announce that the expert review group that is established by my predecessor has presented its report to me and this has been published today. It makes a number of key recommendations on how the existing legal framework might be strengthened, not just in the available law, but how the existing legal framework can be made to work better in practice. Please tell Province Welsh Governments that I am minded to accept the recommendations of this report and I wish to record my thanks to all those who directly contributed to this work and those who offer the group insights and expertise from the field. The Government will appreciate that I've only received the report today but wanted to place this in the public domain yn unig o'i cymdeithas headiwyddau. Mae'r wneud i gweld wedi gallw cwrsfylgiadau i bobweithio i gwrsfylgiadau i gwrsfylgiadau iawn i'w ddiwylliannol. Mae'n anod Gorfod Sifolioon i gynnwys gwrdd i'w prydau'i gweld i ddifueryddio'r sagaith i'u gweld i'w gweld i gyrdd. Fy fyddai tudwg y nid i ar y cyfnod, rydyn ni'n gweithio'r dysgu a gwybodaeth a'u cyfeithio'r dweud i nid yn pethau o'r s forgiveness hwnnw, credu'r hyd oherwydd ein and better data collection and sharing across the range of public services. I heard this directly yesterday from our NPS evidence group, a parallel group of experts that has been brought together by the Scottish Government to review the available evidence on NPS. I'm pleased to further announce that this group will be working to develop a definition of NPS that can be used consistently across different sectors. This will assist the courts, forensic experts and those supporting people using NPS. The group will also be reviewing existing systems of data collection and information sharing to improve our knowledge on the extent of NPS use and the associated harms. The particular recording difficulties in respect of accident emergency departments has been raised in this chamber before. In addition to the work of the evidence group, I'm delighted to announce that the Scottish Government will shortly be commissioning specific research to enable us to better understand the prevalence and harms of NPS use within specific vulnerable subgroups of the population. Stakeholders across Scotland have raised concerns about the use of those substances among vulnerable young people, adults with mental health issues and injecting drug users as well. Evidence about the use and harms of NPS within those groups is very limited and there are concerns that the consequences of NPS use among those groups may be particularly severe. The position is exacerbated by the alarming number of new NPS products appearing on the market each and every year. I recently visited four for police station in Angus and heard first hand about the proactive approach taken by local police, trading standard officers, Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service, community campaigners and others on the proactive multi-agency approach that has been taken in Tayside to tackle NPS. Operation Caronate, as it's known, targeted individuals in premises that sell NPS. This has seen officers utilising common law and trading standards regulations at premises selling NPS. That action has resulted in the closure of premises selling NPS and is an example of good practice of a number of agencies and communities working in partnership to tackle the issue of new psychoactive substances. The partners in Angus indicated that this has reduced NPS purchases in their area, but it is early days. Only last month I had the opportunity to close a member's business debate on motion submitted by Alex Johnstone on new psychoactive substances needs assessment for Tayside and in preparation for that debate and my subsequent visit I was struck by the excellent work being done to tackle the issue that these substances are causing to local communities. I have also become very aware of the significant degree of consensus across the political spectrum in the chamber on this challenge and the recognition that there are no easy answers to the questions posed by NPS. As I take forward the range of matters discussed in my report, I am extending an invitation to my colleagues in this chamber from across the parties to join me in a ministerial cross-party group on NPS. I will write regarding the details of that to colleagues in the near future. However, in essence, this group will continue to examine the work that is under way to build a shared understanding of the problem, hear from experts in the field and oversee the work as it unfolds. Our education efforts must also continue. Our drugs campaign, Know the Score, continues to offer reliable and non-judgmental advice on drugs and their risks, including new psychoactive substances via our free helpline and website. We also support choices for life, delivered in partnership with Police Scotland, a drugs, alcohol and tobacco education programme for school children across Scotland supported by an information website. Choices for life will shortly be releasing a video of the dangers of NPS via the online learning portal for schools. I have also seen first hand the work of CREW, which is another excellent partnership that we have in place. I personally learned a great deal on my visit to CREW about the harmful effects of NPS during that visit. As individuals they engage with on a daily basis, including family members of those who are using NPS. I would like to examine with the ministerial cross-party group how we might better connect with young people and exploit social media in this regard to educate young people on the risks they face if they do use NPS. I would also like parliamentary colleagues to work with me to examine how we might work with the Scottish Youth Parliament to raise the profile of NPS and to support them to complement the efforts of this chamber. A specific recommendation of the expert review raised the need for first-class forensic capability that can develop clear standards to support fast and accurate information in NPS for those not just in enforcement but also in critical areas of the health service such as accident emergency departments. I am already in discussion with Forensic Services, Police Authority, on how we can take this forward and this is particularly important given there is evidence from Wales of substances increasing in strength. Again, I would hope that the ministerial cross-party group can oversee the development of a national centre of excellence. There is a specific recommendation for new legislation to be introduced and I recognise and acknowledge the potential role of the UK Government in securing new arrangements to bring NPS under legal control. The Home Office has been helpful and cooperative in the work of the expert group when I will be meeting my counterpart Lynn Featherston MP to press in her supporting us to bring these substances under legal control in Scotland. In summary, the report of the expert group has been published today and I have made a number of immediate announcements on commissioning research on the prevalence and harm that is caused by NPS and beginning work on a definition to guide those in the field as part of an immediate response. I have also invited parliamentary colleagues to join me in considering the work in more detail including overseeing the increased effort in educating young people and developing a first-class forensic service to strengthen our response. I am encouraged that the expert review concluded that there were a range of existing powers that can be used to tackle the sale and supply of NPS and that those can be made more effective. The practical work to progress these operational matters will now begin. I am also clear my commitment to ensure that new legislation is brought forward as quickly as possible to put these substances subject to criminal proceedings. As has been echoed in this chamber many times, the term legal high has been regarded as misleading and unhelpful term. I hope that the chamber will support the findings of the report that I have published today. Making the question of the legality of these substances very clear, identifying the harms they cause and putting where appropriate those who seek to sell them in the knowledge of the harms they cause behind bars rather than behind the shop counters in our high streets. The minister will now take questions on issues raised in his statement to intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to next item of business. If you wish to ask a question of the minister it would be extremely helpful if we would press your request speak button now and I call Elaine Murray. I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement and for making it available in our in advance of the statement to the chamber. Scottish Labour will be pleased to take part in the cross-party working group that he proposes. New psychoactive substances are an issue that Governments around the world are struggling to cope with. Biochemical knowledge is now so advanced that if one substance is banned another with similar effects on the receptors in the brain can be synthesised to replace it. With regard to the forensics has the minister examined the approach taken in Wales where last year the health minister allocated funding to the Wadinos project which provides a mechanism for the collection and testing of unknown and new psychoactive substances or combinations of substances and issues advice on harm reduction? Has he given consideration to the suggestion made by my colleague Kezia Dugdale in the debate just over a year ago which seemed to have some acceptance by his predecessor that universities could work with organisations such as Crew 2000 to set up the social enterprise which would enable drugs which are taken off the streets to be handed over for assessment? Can he also clarify what he means by pressing Lynn Featherstone to support you on bringing the substances under legal control in Scotland? Are you arguing for the devolution of these powers in which case I put it to you that there should be no borders in the fight to control the harm caused by NPS? Minister. I thank Lee Murray firstly for her very positive contribution in terms of the debates we've had up to now and also her warm words at the beginning about wanting to work with the Government across the party group and I certainly welcome that myself. On the new substance in emerging she's absolutely correct that we have I think in the last year 81 new substances have come in the market and that shows just how difficult it is for the authorities and those working in the third sector to keep on top of what the impacts are the harms that there are on individuals and to advise those individuals the risks that they face in taking them. That's why testing and the forensics capability is so important. I'm going to rat that information through cascade it through the community that are serving drug use to make sure they are prepared for and aware of the risks that they face. So we are looking closely at what is being done in Wales and where in us. I can't promise we'll do exactly the same we obviously have to look at that and that's something we can take forward in the cross party group. But we certainly are aware of that and officials from my own department are engaging with their colleagues in Wales and the point regarding the universities and the social enterprise, I will have to look at that, but it predates me so I will take account of what Kezia Dugdale said previously, but that's again something we can take forward in the ministerial cross party group. As to Pressingland Feithersdon, we are aware clearly we want to work collaboratively with the Home Office and UK Government on this. I respect the point that has been made by Dr Murray about cross-border issues. Clearly we face challenges. I'm a colleague cabinet secretary's meeting with the Irish Government tomorrow and we'll be discussing those issues with them. So clearly it doesn't respect binds we need to work together and we are learning a lot from what the Irish have done themselves and clearly the Home Office has produced its own report last October with 31 recommendations of its own. So we are studying those reports and working closely with our colleagues and I would just encourage Lynn Feithersdon to help us in so far as the UK Government can to effect the result we all want to see. Margaret Mitchell Thank you Presiding Officer and thank you to the minister for advance sight of this statement. The minister made reference to my colleague Annabelle Goldie's question yesterday to the Solicitor General about how many people supplying these substances have been convicted under common law with reckless and culpable conduct. The response was these figures are not available. Clearly this is a matter of concern especially as the report identifies that using a charge of reckless and culpable conduct has been successful in securing convictions. So I'm very pleased the minister addressed this data collection issue in his statement and I too confirm that the Scottish Conservatives will be happy to take part in the cross-party group. However there seems to be a number of different expert groups looking at this issue without an overarching co-ordinator. I wondered if the minister could perhaps confirm if this is an aspect that has been considered. Minister The member might expect me to say this but I hope that the Scottish Government is providing some overarching co-ordination of this activity. I take the point that it does appear to be different strands but I can assure Margaret Mitchell that they are co-ordinated and they are complementary rather than cutting across each other. The work that I witnessed yesterday at the expert group looking at data issues was sitting alongside the work that's being done of the expert legal group looking at the legal aspects of it and obviously a focus on data and statistics and information sharing in the second group that I met yesterday. They are complementary rather than cutting across each other. I certainly welcome Margaret Mitchell's confirmation that the Scottish Conservatives are happy to take part in this group and I very much welcome that because I know members such as Margaret Mitchell and Annabelle Goldie have a lot of interest in drug use issues so that's very positive. In terms of the issue that was raised I know that the Solicitor General is looking at how we can improve the availability of Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service data to ensure that we have as much visibility as possible so that's something that has been taken forward following the question session yesterday. We need to finish by 3 o'clock because I do need to protect the debate that comes afterwards. I have 11 members who wish to ask a question. If you keep to a question and if the minister keeps to a brief answer we'll get through. Graham Day, followed by Alice McInnes. Thank you. The review group report states that there are a number of benefits to the approach taken by the Irish Republic to tackle an NPS. Sighting is an example. The reduction in the number of head chops from 102 there in 2010 when the legislation was introduced to just 10. But would the minister accept that shutting down such premises welcomed though that would be, isn't in itself going to solve the problem of an NPS? Not least of all because the addictions they've helped create will presumably be fed via the internet instead. That is an important point. The Irish have managed to ban all sites using Irish domain names as another part of their approach. If we go forward with proposals to perhaps as recommended in the report in paragraph 6.9 on the merit in considering a new offence to deal with the sale or supply of NPS, that would also potentially ban the sale via the internet. Clearly, again, because internet sales are regulated in effect by the UK Government in this context, we need to work closely with the Home Office on such matters and other departments at UK Government level. It's another example where co-ordinated approach between Scottish Government and UK Government may be helpful in this regard and working with our colleagues elsewhere in the European Union to make sure that the internet sales issue is addressed. The minister noted the need for first-class forensic capability. Forensic services is overspent by 0.29 million and is facing a further 0.214 million unallocated cost reductions before the end of the year. The SPA has admitted that this is beginning to put pressure on its finite resources. Given the importance of tackling the menace of NPS, can the minister advise what additional funds will be available to Forensic services to build that first-class capability? Clearly, I recognise that like all parts of the public services we are under pressure at the moment due to funding constraints. However, we will work closely with Police Scotland and the forensic services to identify what is possible within existing resources and where necessary, if there are additional resource requirements, we will take those on board. It's early days, the report has just been produced. We are signalling that we accept the point that has been made by the expert legal group. I look forward to working up the detail and that's clearly something we can discuss within the group that I have suggested today. Nigel Dawn, full by Jenny Marra. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm very grateful to the minister for his statement. I recognise that he's doing lots of things about the physical supply within the country. If I could just extend Graham Day's point and wondering what the minister feels he can do presumably with the Home Office to deal with what's going to happen which is an internet sale and supply and that will only be worked out through international discussion. Minister. It's early days but I appreciate that at European Justice Council the issue of NPS use has been discussed in the past. I know it is unpotentially an agenda item that's coming up in the near future. That may be a forum where we can engage with other Governments to discuss a co-ordinated approach across the European Union to tackling the problem of internet sales. There are some challenges in terms of internet sales for those who wish to use that route. I heard in Angus that there's predominantly young unemployed males that are using NPS services to credit cards or other means to use internet sales but clearly there's also a risk that somebody could do so and then sell on to those individuals separately. Clearly we need to have a sophisticated approach to this. There is no single silver bullet and that's why it's useful to take on board the ideas of all other parties in the chamber and work together to try to come up with a co-ordinated solution. Jenny Marra followed by Kevin Stewart. The minister will know how important this is to the communities that I represent in Dundee in Angus as a result of legal highs. Scottish Labour called this week for the collection of data, the amount of people presenting themselves to A&E having taken legal highs. The minister said today that he would be reviewing existing systems of data collection but he did not give a specific commitment to collection. Can he please tell me what timeline he aspires to for the collection of this data? I certainly recognise the issue that data collection and looking at new means of collecting data is obviously something that we are interested in. The group yesterday that I met in Edinburgh were looking at that very issue. We could use existing data but obviously what other forms of data we could deploy whether there are existing information systems that could be if adapted, could adapt in such a way as they could capture more useful information on the granularity of drug misuse and therefore within that NPS use. So I can give the member an assurance that what we are looking at, clearly it's important to take an evidence-based approach to policy development at any point in time and we do lack at the moment a comprehensive picture and there are some differences of opinion emerging that perhaps the statutory sector see a different message emerging in terms of use of intravenous drug use deployment and in the third sector are people seeing an increasingly a new group of people using intravenous drug misuse. We have some conflicts in data and we need to bring them together and understand and get a comprehensive picture so we know where the problems are, the prevalence rates and indeed the particular drugs that are being used. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The local government committee is currently looking at the Air Weapons and Licensing Bill and there's a sense of frustration amongst folk in Aberdeen that there's a lack of licensing provision for shops specialising in the sale of psychoactive substances and drug paraphernalia. Is there a practical way that we can bring these kind of shops into the licensing regime to give folks peace of mind? Minister? The expert legal group did look at alternative models in places like New Zealand where licensing has been taken while there are some strengths of that approach there are also concerns about it as well and it wasn't deemed to be in the words of the expert legal group or the solution in this case. I recognise the point that Kevin Stewart makes about the concern among communities about the prevalence of head shops in their high streets and that's why it was so positive the action that was taken in Angus to tackle this issue through trading standards through Police Scotland and the local council working together to identify how they could use common law and careless and reckless behaviour to identify where there was irresponsible sale of NPS and that action has been taken in that community led by community groups forcing the issue home and putting their own pressure on those suppliers and it has had the benefit of shutting down those shops. Dr Rich Simpson, followed by Alex Johnson. Minister, there is considerable avoidance of prosecution by labelling products as not being for human use and at the same time not saying what effects could occur if it was used by a human can I ask him if he would hold early discussions with the New Foods Scotland agency to look at those products which, while labelled for animal use, are clearly being sold with the intention of human use to see if we can't get warnings to be extended so that at least people are being protected. That's a useful point that Dr Simpson has made. Certainly I agree with him there's great concern that the whole perception of these products as being legal highs is entirely misplaced. They're legal if they're not being used for human consumption. They're clearly very dangerous because they are used for human consumption. We know some of the substances that mimic existing illicit drugs maybe eight or more times as powerful as the equivalent product. People will be taking a similar quantity and then completely taken by the strength of the dose they've taken and that may cause fatal consequences. We all have an interest to make sure that labelling is clear to make sure that people do not consume them at all and certainly take forward the point that Dr Simpson suggests at the cross-party route. I thank the minister for taking action across a broad front after being in receipt of this report. I also suggest that we commend the action that was taken by Police Scotland in Angus where the common law and trading standards were used in combination in order to facilitate a raid on such a shop. I wonder if the minister could tell me if any other sections of the police force in Scotland have taken similar action and whether that is likely to become policy both for Police Scotland and for the future. I'm aware that in South Ayrshire a similar approach was taken some years before but Angus has demonstrated a much more co-ordinated and wide-scale approach to tackling a problem at a community level and there's been a strong community impetus behind that as well. Perhaps it's more recent in the light of emerging trends if you like, in higher incidents of NPS use and the higher availability of products. In the case of Angus it's certainly very much welcome what has been done there. It's certainly something that we're very interested in but in order to be able to use careless and reckless in terms of the common law we need to be able to demonstrate harms and that's why it's so important to have the forensic capability and the co-ordination with our health professionals to understand the physical emotional psychological impacts of those substances on individuals and to be able to demonstrate harms makes it much more easy to enforce once we've got a clear idea of the harms of each product. I'm grateful to the minister for his statement and also for the focus that is being placed on education within the action that the Government is taking forward. However, can I ask beyond the education targeted at children and young people if he will examine the expansion of that to include the adult population given the important role that parents and community leaders will play in terms of ensuring that the strong messages that the Government wishes to convey are put across but also in terms of being able to spot the signs of NPS use in young people who they are responsible for either as parents or perhaps as youth leaders. Those are extremely important points that Mark McDonald makes. The work that CREW do in Edinburgh is a good example of the National Organization or the National Commission and they can provide support across the country but CREW work with parents so often parents will come in for confidential advice about the substances they know their children may or may not be taking and be able to get advice. They are aware of the risks themselves and be able to support their children hopefully coming off the substances but also equally important for adult users we are seeing increasing incidents of experienced drug users perhaps diverting into using NPS they are sometimes cheaper than the equivalent and more freely available and therefore there's a danger that they are getting back into a culture of deploying drugs and therefore putting themselves at risk of bloodborne diseases, ulcers and even amputation risks so there are serious consequences associated with injecting drugs intervenously and therefore we need to make sure that people are equipped with the knowledge to keep them safe if they are going to use these substances we need to do the absolute maximum we can to prevent them putting themselves at risk. Rhoda Grant, followed by Roderick Campbell Can I ask what assistance the local authorities with regard to licensing premises that sell NPS and whether lessons can be learned from the approach taken by the local authority down in Lincoln to stop these outlets opening on our high streets? Certainly on the latter point we are going to take an interest in what's happening in Lincoln it's a measure that isn't directly comparable in Scotland but we are going to study what the implications are of that it will deal with activity that's out in the public space but wouldn't necessarily prevent sale of the substances as we understand it so it will only have a limited impact but in terms of licensing I recognise the important role of local authorities obviously in terms of discharging their functions in planning, licensing and the role of trading standards they are clearly important players in this and they've worked very constructively in Angus Council and South Ayrshire Council to help tackle the problem at a local level we want to make sure that all local authorities are aware of what's possible what the tool kits are available to them and the trading standards officers to know what the powers they have are and how they can deploy the most effectively learning from good examples in Angus and South Ayrshire so the more we can do on that to help local authorities to tackle problems at a local level the better but I certainly welcome Rhoda Grant's comments and I'm keen to help ensure that that happens Rhoda Grant Campbell and finally John Finnie I would the minister evaluate the success of the now the score helpline and website to date certainly the website has been effective in that it has reached a large number of individuals now the score provides obviously a good source of information which is it could be read at time and a leisure of the individual it doesn't deal with any issues to do with anonymity they can read it in their own time in their own space and learn about the challenges but we have had some evidence of using Facebook for example to promote the use of now the score we know that a campaign that was launched last year managed to generate 11,000 clicks or 5,000 additional people visiting the website over a single month that the adverts ran so we can do more to make sure people are aware of where the information is where they can access it and no agencies like crew and the local ADPs make sure that local residents are aware of now the score and that it is a valuable resource for them but it's only one part of the picture and using information on the internet through glow to educate children is also a very important part of what we are supposed to do John Finnie Minister, the issues of drugs legislation represents 45 years of failure in many people's eyes, myself included we must engage in terms of people and understanding meantime that is the term legal highs I commend the work of crew as you do would you agree with me to use education as the primary vehicle for addressing the concerns that we all have Minister I do think that is probably true we have a situation where we have to deal with in the longer term because there are a number of those products that are coming in the market we need to get young people educated that the risks they face many people attending clubs are being presented with NPS as a so-called soft option or legal high and maybe not aware of that that doesn't imply in any way shape or form that they are properly regulated, that they are safe the misleading aspect of them being properly professionally packaged also leads people into thinking that they are perhaps safer than they are in truth when people take them they will be guaranteed they will get the same experience with one packet they will get with another and we have found that they have sometimes been cross cut with illicit drugs as well so they may be taking something which is extremely powerful and may do enormous damage so we have to educate people as to the risks make sure that they are not going into a situation where they may be using an NPS product without a good grounding in knowledge as to what the risks they face and perhaps to deter them from doing so thank you that ends the ministerial statement can I thank the minister our members we can do it when we try to keep it brief we've managed to get through all of it we now move to next item of business which is a debate on motion number 12423 in the name of Marco Berge on the commission on local tax reform members who wish to take part in the debate should press the request button now and I call Marco Berge to speak to me